SHOULD WE SEND THE NATIONAL GUARD TO CAMPUS BASKETBALL STORMINGS?
Something dramatic must happen to control wild crowds after Duke’s Kyle Filipowski was roughed up after a loss at Wake Forest, which came after Caitlin Clark was roughed up after a loss at Ohio State
An organized militia force, such as the National Guard, would come for domestic emergencies. Feeling somewhat more humane, I’d suggest large body-bearing nets be placed at courtside from the rafters with numerous city police. With one minute left in a basketball triumph that would prompt fans to leave seats and celebrate crazily on the hardcourt, the public-address announcer would issue a warning.
“Anyone who tries to storm the floor will be arrested,” he would say.
Otherwise, in the name of Kyle Filipowski, college players might have careers tainted or ruined by clowns who revel in the glory of Wake Forest beating Duke on a February Saturday. When you attend a North Carolina school that isn’t honored by Mike Krzyzewski’s era and the prestigious name, you want to rush down and party like Tim Duncan and Chris Paul were tailgating. Who cares that a Demon Deacons fan injured Filipowski, scheduled to be taken in the top 10 of this June’s NBA draft? The 7-foot big man said contact to his right knee was intentional and involved three fans — one shoving him, another pushing him in the back and a third banging him hard in the leg region, forcing him to be helped through a tunnel by a team manager and teammate Stanley Borden.
Something dramatic and soul-searching must be done by careless universities in this nation of ours, which can’t wait to claim gazillions in the College Football Playoff and March Madness but can’t control crowds after home games. This is the latest brigade of students racing onto the floor this season, remembering the Ohio State student who collided with Caitlin Clark and sent her tumbling. A week doesn’t pass without another incident. Filipowski’s injury is a first.
And not the last.
“It's just really ridiculous how that situation is handled," Filipowski said after the 83-79 loss. "I absolutely feel like it was personal. Intentional, for sure. Like I said, there's no reason where they see a big guy like me trying to work my way off the court and they can't just work around me, you know? There's no excuse for that.”
His coach, the mild-mannered Jon Scheyer, was ready to take down Winston and Salem and Stephen A. Smith — he went to college in the old tobacco burg — when wondering about the upcoming NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils entered the afternoon as the eighth-ranked team. What now?
“When are we going to ban court storming?” Scheyer said. "When are we going to ban that? How many times does a player have to get into something, where they get punched, or they get pushed, or they get taunted right in their face? It's a dangerous thing. You look around the country. Caitlin Clark, something happens. And now Flip, I don't know what his status is going to be. It's one thing, like when I played, at least it was 10 seconds and you storm the court. Now, the buzzer doesn't even go off, and they're running on the floor. This has happened to us a bunch this year.”
The biggest problems are conferences that don’t discipline or fine schools for the practices, which some athletic departments love so they can show wild scenes to recruits. In the Atlantic Coast Conference, schools determine their own procedures. The Wake Forest coach, Steve Forbes, agreed with Scheyer, saying, “I don't like court stormings. I never have. I've been a part of those before. They just don't feel safe.” Yet Forbes and athletic director John Currie had no proactive warning in place, the issue at most schools.
Said Currie: “We sincerely regret the unfortunate on-court incident … and hope the involved Duke student-athlete is doing better. I called Duke (athletic director) Nina King and ACC (executive) Paul Brazeau immediately after the game and expressed our sincere regret for the situation and our concern for the Duke student-athlete's well-being. Although our event management staff and security had rehearsed postgame procedures to protect the visiting team and officials, we clearly must do better. … I am in complete agreement that something more must be done about the national phenomenon of court and field storming and Wake Forest looks forward to being a part of those conversations.”
The ACC, run by commissioner Jim Phillips, is the ugliest by ignoring the obvious. The Big Ten waits until a third offense before fining schools, with communications vice president Scott Markley saying after Clark’s episode, “Generally, it’s rely on school policy, local law enforcement, (to) know what’s best for fans and student-athletes and officials. And we’re always monitoring these things and discuss if we need to make adjustments in the interest of a safe environment.” The other four major hoops conferences fine for a first offense.
The policies don’t matter. Kids want to romp … and don’t care if they run into or damage an opposing player. Purdue coach Matt Painter finally might win a national championship if his players avoid fans. They were smart to escape into the locker room with one second left on Dec. 1, when Northwestern was pulling off a home upset. But Nebraska fans were too quick five weeks later.
“So we’ve got to do something about the court storms, guys,” Painter said. “I don’t know why institutions aren’t ready for it. What did you think was going to happen? Like, what did you think was going to happen if they won? Like, spread the word. Spread the word before anyone gets hurt. A student from Nebraska should be able to storm the court, right? Like, we’re cool, just get ready for it, if that’s what you’re going to do. We’re struggling in our conference with that.”
Ask Clark, who said, “I was just trying to exit the court as quickly as possible, so I started running and I was absolutely just hammered by somebody trying to run onto the court. Basically blindsided and, you know, kind of scary, could have caused a pretty serious injury to me and knocked the wind out of me. But luckily my teammates kind of picked me up and got me off the court.”
Painter provided a warning. “Nothing happened,” he said, “but something’s going to happen.” The victim was Filipowski, who wrote a social-media message afterward: “This gotta change …” Imagine one of the best players in men’s basketball — and the woman who is changing the sport — in position to be knocked silly in away arenas. “Just like any other upset game where the fans rush the court, all hell goes crazy,” Filipowski said. “Just trying to get my way off the court, and you know, you’ve got these crazy college students just doing whatever they want. It’s got to be a little more protective when things like that happen.”
His right knee was wrapped with an ice pack. In the past, players have traded punches with fans and accused fans of spitting while wondering whether to file assault charges. The National Guard would work, I’d say.
Toll-free number: 1-800-342-9647. Don’t expect any tributes from rock stars.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.